Friday, June 28, 2013

More Charlestown shorts

DiLibero vies for new gig; Dems want your stuff; preparing for the next storm; WCCDC wants board members; Gentz and Tremblay get mad
Bill DiLibero in
happier times
By Will Collette

Bill DiLibero vying for a new job!

Charlestown’s poorly treated former Town Administrator Bill DiLibero is vying for a new gig as interim Town Manager for East Greenwich. As Progressive Charlestown readers will remember, DiLibero was the target of one of  Charlestown’s most outrageous hatchet jobs when the CCA Party – who had praised, honored and given raises to Bill – decided to use him as a scapegoat to divert attention from their mismanagement of Charlestown government and their “Y-Gate Scam.” Bill was ousted after the CCA Party’s “Kill Bill” campaign made his position in Charlestown untenable. Best wishes that you get the new gig!

Some prime goods from last year's sale
Dems want your stuff!

The annual Charlestown Democratic Town Committee yard sale is coming up on July 6. CDTC’s top fund-raiser Frank Glista is still looking for salable goods that will bring in some cash, so please contact Frank by e-mail or at (401) 364-3723.

Storms are coming

It’s only a matter of time before we get hammered with another major coastal storm. Area property owners are getting some major sticker shock as their storm insurance bills skyrocket as federal subsidies for flood insurance decline. The rate hikes are across the board, not just on those homeowners whose homes were trashed by Sandy.

Add the expense of meeting new storm proofing standards if storm damage exceeded 50% and Hurricane Sandy made living on the beach a lot less attractive. While there are arguments that we need to reverse development on beach fronts and discourage re-building, there is no active policy against it – just economics and the increasing effects of climate change.

Charlestown Housing Official Joe
Warner - taking classes
Some months back, I wrote about a special FEMACommunity Rating Program. This program involves a commitment by a town to using best practices to prepare for severe storms. It rewards communities by granting flood insurance discounts to homeowners of anywhere from 5% to 45% depending on the municipality’s level of commitment.

Westerly recently stepped up its storm preparation program and qualified to enter the FEMA program with a rating of “8” that will qualify Westerly homeowners for a 10% discount when they renew their flood insurance.

And recently, Charlestown announced that it also hopes to qualify. One critical step is for Charlestown to designate a qualified person to serve as Storm Manager. Our Housing Official Joe Warner has been taking the classes needed so that he can be qualified to assume that role. That will be another of the many hats Joe already wears.

There might even be a surprising source of funding for disaster preparation. The Associated Press revealed that the American Red Cross, which raised $303 million for recovery from the devastation of Hurricane Sandy, has only spent a third of the money. For unconscionable reasons, the Red Cross is sitting on more than $200 million that was supposed to go to Sandy's victims. By contrast, the Robin Hood Foundation spent the Sandy relief money they raised almost as soon as they had raised it.

My Louisiana friends at the Louisiana Environmental Action Network tell me the Red Cross did the same thing after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita - they collected beaucoup money and kept it. They told me the only national organization that earned their respect was the Salvation Army.

The Washington County Community Development Corporation wants board members

They’re looking for people who believe in affordable housing, especially those who have skills. Board members are volunteers, unpaid, and are expected to attend monthly meetings and help the organization achieve its mission of developing affordable housing in South County.

To be eligible for appointment, you should meet at least one of the following criteria: 

Affordable housing advocates and providers; Human and social service providers; Community representatives; Civic and community leaders; Individuals willing to contribute particular expertise needed by our organization, such as architects, engineers, builders, developers, accountants, attorneys and grant writers; Lenders and others with expertise in underwriting and financial planning; Individuals with access to private, corporate or philanthropic resources; Or, low and/or moderate income individuals residing in Washington County or West Greenwich, RI.

If interested, send a resume or request an application form via email to WashingtonCountyCDC@gmail.com or call (401) 667-7185.

Speaking of affordable housing….

Boss Gentz - hypocrite on
affordable housing
CCA Party Town Councilors Boss Tom Gentz and George Tremblay had a letter to the editor in the Providence Journal which later ran in the Westerly Sun that lambasted Rhode Island Housing for screwing Charlestown by denying funding for the ChurchWoods and Shannock Village projects. Ironically, these projects are both planned under the auspices of the aforementioned Washington County CDC.

Gentz and Tremblay are absolutely right that Charlestown was screwed, royally, by RI Housing’s 180-degree turn on their funding committee.

...and Councilor George
Tremblay with his loony
theory about the elderly
However justified their irate letter is, I have a theory about why RI Housing decided that Charlestown should be denied funding. My theory is that this is pay-back for the CCA Party’s relentless attack against affordable housing, including an effort to repeal the state affordable housing law. That attack was led by none other than Boss Gentz and George Tremblay.

In their attacks on affordable housing, they bent and twisted the truth beyond recognition. Tremblay in particular went way over the line by concocting a bizarre and unsubstantiated tale that affordable housing for the elderly – like ChurchWoods – was being exploited by elderly billionaires. Even in their letter to the Journal, Gentz and Tremblay continue the myth that affordable housing is routinely going to families with above average incomes.

With Charlestown’s record and the CCA Party lies about affordable housing, is it any wonder why Rhode Island Housing is reluctant to put ever-dwindling funding into Charlestown?